Radiology in Iran – Coming Out of Sanctions

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An Overview

The Iranian Society of Radiology (ISR ) is
the largest in the ‏Middle East and Levant region, with the only other country ‏with
more radiologists in this area being Turkey. Presently, ‏there are about 2,400
radiologists practicing in Iran – the ‏Iranian society was founded in 1966 and
is now one the ‏largest and best organised medical associations in the ‏country.

Currently, there are 17 radiology training
programmes ‏running all over the country with around 150 residents graduating ‏every
year. Radiology training is a four-year residency ‏programme, being a highly
competitive choice for medical ‏students and there are about 200 academic
radiologists all ‏over the country.

The main area of preference in the practice
of radiology ‏is still “general radiology” but there is a growing demand ‏and
interest for sub-specialty imaging services. Solo radiology ‏practice is the
predominant form of establishing and ‏running radiology centres in the country,
but group practices ‏with about five to ten radiologists is a growing trend, ‏thus
allowing for the provision of subspecialty services to be ‏tailored to national
needs.

The majority of Iranian radiologists dedicate
themselves to ‏general radiology and run imaging centres employing X-ray, ‏ultrasound,
mammography and dental imaging equipment. ‏Only a minority of imaging centres –
which are usually ‏owned and run by groups of radiologists – use cross-sectional
‏imaging equipment.

Annual congresses of radiology and refresher
courses play ‏a major role in post-graduate training, which is a significant ‏ongoing
demand, considering the rapid developments taking ‏place internationally in the
field of radiology. This makes Iran’s ‏annual congress of radiology, which is
the largest in the region ‏and held every May, a bridge that connects the
Iranian radiological ‏community with modern medical imaging worldwide.

Impact From
Sanctions

Although sanctions against Iran have had a
devastating effect ‏on medical imaging, currently the situation is changing and
‏the radiology community is hopeful that it will face better ‏conditions ahead.
As Iran is a great regional market for ‏vendors, when the removal of sanctions
relieve this action, ‏major companies will get access to the largest potential ‏market
for radiological equipment in the whole region.

We could say that one of the “positive
impacts” that the ‏sanctions had on the Iranian radiology sector was the
introduction ‏of picture archive communication systems (PA CS) in ‏medical
imaging technology, as well as the practice of filmless ‏or ‘less film’
radiology. Because of the limited availability ‏of films, PA CS installation
and CD/DVD image distribution ‏was adopted very rapidly during the sanction
period. ‏Of course, the market leaders of PACS and imaging informatics ‏solutions
are mostly local vendors and the market ‏is still very much promising for
reasonable internationally ‏approved products in this field.

Looking Ahead

Teleradiology is becoming more and more
popular in Iran ‏and a growing number of radiologists and clinicians view ‏the
medical images retrieved remotely as an ideal solution, ‏despite the lack of
nationally-approved rules and regulations ‏for teleradiology practice in the
country.

Hybrid imaging is a missing sector altogether
in the Iranian ‏radiology arena. There are only a handful of PET /CT
installations ‏in the country which is clearly far less than what we ‏actually
need. The biggest obstacle in the availability of hybrid ‏imaging equipment has
been the sanctions that have been ‏imposed on Iran that prevented the free
import of machines ‏and equipment into the country.

Regional
Cooperation

The Iranian radiological community has a very
good relationship ‏with the regional and international communities. ‏There are
a number of ongoing agreements and protocols ‏of cooperation between the
Iranian Society of Radiology and ‏all neighbouring countries including Turkey,
Iraq, Pakistan ‏and Afghanistan. Also, Iran is playing a leading role in the ‏establishment
of a regional radiological community under the ‏banner of the Eurasian
Radiology Initiative. Iran is a founding ‏and key driver in this exciting
project that aims to cover ‏regional collaboration between 34 countries. Iran
will host ‏the first Eurasian Congress of Radiology at Kish Island later ‏this
year.

End of
Sanctions. What Next?

The imposition of sanctions on Iran has made
any scientific ‏collaboration with international radiological communities ‏extremely
difficult. Inviting and including guest scientists at ‏meetings or events
hosted by departments of radiology were ‏hampered by political issues. Also,
the participation of Iranian ‏scientists in international radiology events has
been limited ‏due to the restricting barriers in securing a visa. Hopefully, ‏after
the removal of the sanctions, the scientific collaboration ‏with the
international community will be restored and ‏will even expand. All
international speakers who visited the ‏country during the past decade have
expressed their surprise ‏that, “Iran is much better than what we see in the
media!”

Resources:

Iranian Society of Radiology (ISR ) -
isr.org.ir

Eurasian Radiology Initiative - earad.org

Key Points

• Iran has 2,400 practicing radiologists, the
second largest community in the Middle East.

• Around 150 radiologists graduate each year.

• Playing a leading role in the establishment
of the regional Eurasian Radiology Initiative.

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